


Fire on Ice

by zillac



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Ice Skating, M/M, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 12:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18073238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zillac/pseuds/zillac
Summary: Caleb shares a happy memory from his past. Caduceus takes note.





	Fire on Ice

They are camped by a small pond, frozen over and sparkling in the light from the adjacent fire. Caleb sits with his scarf bundled tightly around his neck and his collar pulled up to ward off the chill of the night. He stares out into the dark, a jumble of memories playing out in his head. Laughter and numb fingers tying laces of skates, wandering out onto ice and searching for balance, falling and more laughing. Coming out of the cold, fire burning in the hearth, warming his hands. Fire leaping from his hands, towards the wooden frame of a house full of more small and shining memories, towards--

“Mister Caleb,” interrupts a low voice. Caleb blinks and finds his fingers twined tightly into the fur of Frumpkin. “Tea is ready, if you would like some.”

Caduceus looms nearby, the other half of the night’s watch. His eyes, previously locked into the distance, drift to Caleb’s as he gathers two cups together and pours from the kettle sitting on the edge of the flames. Caleb flexes his fingers, runs them along Frumpkin’s back to find a spot behind his ears, and takes a breath. 

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” But he smiles wide when Caleb lifts the second cup from his hand. “It’s far too cold a night to go without something to bring us a spot of warmth.”

Caleb nods and brings the cup to his lips. The steam brings with it the scent of lavender, and Caleb finds a small amount of tension drain from his shoulders.

He doesn’t deserve nice tea, his mind tells him. But Caduceus deserves to share his tea with who he likes and see them enjoy it, so Caleb takes a sip and allows himself to hum. The firbolg is unnervingly kind to all people and plants they pass. He is concerned with helping others and looks after their small--

The word family drifts to mind and with it he’s back in front of the house, fire in his palms and he freezes. Smells lavender. Is torn between memory and the present.

“Isn’t that pretty,” comes from next to him and once more he blinks back to himself. Caleb looks over at his watch companion. Caduceus is looking out at the pond, where it seems nothing has changed over the past hour. Caleb can’t tell if there is something new that he cannot see, or if Clay is referring to the glimmering firelight dancing across the ice, as it has been. He nods. Then takes a sip of his tea. When he speaks, his voice is somewhat uneven. 

“In the center of the village during the winter months, they would put lights all around the pond so the children could skate into the night. When I was young. Perhaps still now.”

Caduceus looks over at him. 

“Did you like it?”

Caleb considers, remembers breathing fast and freezing cheeks and gliding over frozen water. 

“It felt like flying,” he says, then drinks once more from his teacup. 

\-----

They’re resting at an inn in a small town to the North. Caleb is settled back in his bed, petting Frumpkin while he stares at the ceiling. It has been around half an hour since he ran out of paper and ink, and Nott and the others had gone out shopping. He hears a knock on the door and leans up, grateful for the distraction from his thoughts. He pulls the door open to reveal Caduceus, a bag slung over his shoulder and a grin on his face. 

“I’m hoping you’ll do me a favor,” he says, softly, leaning close into Caleb’s space before abandoning it and walking away. Caleb stands still for a moment, then grabs his coat off the wall and follows. 

They leave the inn and walk into the forest behind it. There are a few inches of snow on the ground, and as they walk Caleb plants his feet in the footprints of Clay, who is following a set of footprints that look to be his own. He must have been this way before. Caleb winds his fingers through the ends of his scarf as they walk. 

After several minutes of trekking through the forest, they come to a small lake. It’s frozen through, and Caleb follows Caduceus to the edge. The firbolg stops and smiles down at him, tossing the bag to the ground beside him and bending down to rifle through it. Caleb stares, watching as visible breath curls up from Clay’s lips as he rummages, his pink hair falling to frame his face. 

When Caduceus stands back up, he’s holding aloft in both hands pairs of boots with skates attached. He looks down at Caleb and gestures with them.

“Could you teach me?” he says, smile turned somewhat bashful.

Caleb stares. 

After a few seconds of silence, Caduceus’ smile droops. Caleb’s brain is spinning in circles with thoughts and memories flying by too fast to make anything of them, but Caduceus unhappy registers somewhere in the back of his mind as not good and he finds his arm extending towards the smaller pair of boots.

Caduceus lets them go into his grasp, staring intently at Caleb’s face. Caleb doesn’t know what’s there to read, doesn’t know why Caduceus would bring him here, doesn’t know how he got into this situation, doesn’t know what to do but his hands need to do something so he reaches down and pries off a boot. 

He stands on one foot and his balance wavers but suddenly Caduceus is there, hands on him, steadying him so he doesn’t fall into the snow and muttering, “Caleb?” and it’s so much at once that Caleb finally looks away from Clay’s eyes, down at the skates in his hands. He absently pulls one on, places his foot on the ground, then puts on the other. The moment he has both feet in the skates and back on the ground, Caduceus lets go of him and backs up. Caleb stands, eyes fixed now on the pond, and finds himself missing the warmth of the large hands steading him. He can see his breath in front of him, shorter than it should be. He has nothing to do with his hands.

Caduceus waits.

Caleb is stepping onto the ice, though he’s barely aware of doing so, and suddenly it’s all he can do to stay upright. His arms flail around him for balance and he recovers just long enough to put one skate in front of the other before he’s doing everything in his power to keep from falling over once more. He’s breathing fast, his mind is spinning and he’s falling but something about that step seems familiar, and the next one as well, and then he’s back to keeping his balance but something old is starting to click and his spinning mind is working faded memories into his bones until he’s not falling. 

He’s halfway across the lake from where he started when he surprises himself with a step, and a glide, and a laugh. His swirling thoughts stop in shock. He blinks.

And finds himself in the middle of the lake where Caduceus brought him, cheeks frozen and fingers numb. He turns back to the shore and sees Caduceus staring, wide-eyed and lips parted. 

Something warm ignites in Caleb’s chest, achingly familiar and terrifyingly new.

He makes his way back across the lake, hands reaching out into the frigid air to keep his balance. He glides at last up to Caduceus. 

“We’ll probably fall a lot,” he says.

“I can patch us up”, Caduceus replies, smiling and putting his skates on.

Clay takes his first cautious step onto the ice, followed by another, and immediately lurches backward. Caleb reaches out to catch his arm and winds up pulled forward, onto the bank of the lake and on top of Caduceus, sprawled in the snow.

Caleb’s gaze fixes to the side of Caduceus’ head, where his pink hair is contrasting with the white beneath it and his large ear is flicking forward. He focuses there, instead of on the warm body beneath his, and moves as quick as he can to dislodge himself, but his skate catches on Clay’s and he winds up thumping against his torso. 

“Scheisse, sorry,” he says, and freezes when he hears quiet and low laughter.

“Okay, let’s see here,” Caduceus says after a moment, gripping Caleb’s arms and shifting both their bodies to the side to dislodge the skate. Caleb flips onto his back and raises himself up onto his elbows in the snow, feeling his frozen cheeks heat up. 

“There we are,” Caduceus says, and heaves himself back onto his feet, holding out a hand to Caleb, who takes it before he has time to hesitate, then takes it back to run through his hair.

“Okay, so you want to push off one foot, ja? And have the other pointed where you wish to go. And keep your knees bent, I think.”

Caduceus drops into a stance with his knees bent somewhat comically, but this time when he steps out onto the ice he manages to keep his footing. He turns and smiles at Caleb, who nods his support and steps out beside him. 

“May I?” Caduceus says, gesturing wildly with his hand in Caleb’s general direction. Caleb pauses, confused for a moment, before skating close to Clay and offering his hand for balance. 

“Oh, thank you. This is much better.”

He grips Caleb’s hand and pushes off with his back foot, gliding forward a bit.

\-----

By the time they are on the bank, switching back into their usual boots, they are both cold and wet and slightly bruised, but Caduceus is beaming and Caleb is watching him absently as he ties his laces.

“Thank you, that was fun,” Caduceus says, and Caleb huffs.

“I should be the one thanking you, I think.” 

Caleb finishes fastening his boots, and he and Caduceus head side by side back through the forest the way they came. A ways into their walk, Caleb feels a nudge at his hand and looks down to find Caduceus’ fingers twining with his own. He almost misses a step as the warmth he felt in his chest earlier flares up, and he notices Caduceus looking down at him. 

“Is this okay?” he asks, squeezing Caleb’s hand. Caleb looks down at their joined hands, runs his thumb lightly against Caduceus’, and nods.

**Author's Note:**

> first fic woo! i hope the Zemni Fields get cold? otherwise this all makes no sense. zillac on tumblr


End file.
